


Coping Mechanisms

by orphan_account



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Anxiety, Cell Phones, Gen, Social Anxiety, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, this is so self indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-05-01 20:51:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5220392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"Is it a bad day?" </i>
</p><p> </p><p>  <i>Josh's eyes met Tyler's briefly before slipping back to the screen of his phone. Tyler sighed, that was answer enough. </i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Coping Mechanisms

**Author's Note:**

> someone stop me from projecting myself onto real life people.

Tyler knew something was wrong when he woke up alone. He had a pit in his stomach as he crawled out of the warm covers. The pit grew and grew as he padded out of the small bedroom and into the den. 

Josh was curled up on the sofa. 

"Josh?" 

Josh didn't look up and that's when Tyler noticed the phone. The pit in his stomach seemed to weigh a ton. 

"Is it a bad day?" 

Josh's eyes met Tyler's briefly before slipping back to the screen of his phone. Tyler sighed, that was answer enough. 

He grabbed a blanket and draped it over Josh's still body. He barely reacted, eyes glued to the screen. Tyler wanted to do something, but he knew that he couldn't. He just had to wait it out. 

He went to walk away, but he was stopped by a hand on his shirt. 

Tyler looked back, eyes wide. Josh looked somewhere over Tyler's shoulder, eyes flickering to Tyler's face briefly before moving back. 

The phone was still tight in his hand. 

"Do you want me to stay with you?" 

Josh nodded slightly and Tyler took his hand, settling himself against his side. 

Josh went back to scrolling on his phone. Tyler rested his head against his shoulder. 

Josh went through his twitter feed, scanning the tweets without really reading them. Then he would refresh the page and go through it again. And again. And again.

Tyler watched as Josh's fingers moved automatically. He watched the battery on the phone slowly deplete. 

Tyler wrapped his arm around Josh's shoulder and played with his hair. Josh relaxed under the touch, fingers pausing briefly. 

Tyler smiled and kissed the side of Josh's head. "I'm right here." He whispered. 

Josh looked up from his phone and stared at Tyler before looking back down. 

Tyler thought he felt Josh lean against him. "I'm right here, Josh. I'm right here." He continued whispered as Josh kept scrolling.

Eventually Josh's fingers stilled and the phone shut down. He stared at the blank screen. 

"... Josh?" 

Josh looked up. "Tyler?" 

"Hey, Jish." Tyler snuggled closer. "Welcome back." 

"Yeah..." Josh looked around, almost disorientated. He dropped his phone. "What time is it?" 

Tyler bit his lip. "3 o'clock." 

Josh froze. "5 hours." 

"Yeah..." 

"I'm so sorry, Tyler." Josh curled in on himself. "You didn't have to stay with me. I wasted all that time." 

"No, no. Josh don't do that. Don't beat yourself up over this." Tyler rubbed his back. "I wanted to be with you." 

"But you didn't have to. I wouldn't've noticed if you left." Josh muttered the last sentence bitterly.

"It's fine, Josh. Sometimes you have a bad day and you need a break from reality. It's _fine._ "

Josh groaned. "No it isn't. It's unhealthy. It wastes time. It makes me feel like shit after. But I... I can't stop. I can't stop. When I get in that mode I just... I want to get off, but I _can't._ " 

"Josh." Tyler said as firmly as he could. "There's no point in beating yourself up over this. We still have a whole day ahead of us to do whatever." 

"That's not the point, Tyler." Josh tried to argue. "The point is that I need to _stop_." 

"And we'll figure that out, Josh. We'll figure out how to make these episodes shorter. We'll figure out other coping mechanisms that aren't your phone. We can figure it out, Josh. _Together._ " 

Josh looked at the floor. "I guess." 

Tyler detangled himself from the blanket. "Come on. Let's get dressed." 

"I'm not in the mood to go anywhere, Tyler." 

"Yeah, I figured. Still, let's get dressed. Make ourselves feel like actual people." 

Josh frowned and looked up into Tyler's eyes. A smile slowly spread across his face. "Okay. Can we watch a movie?" 

Tyler smiled back. "Of course."

**Author's Note:**

> this was so self indulgent oh my fucking god


End file.
